Experts in Florida who work with tigers said they weren't particularly surprised to learn that a tiger mauled a man to death Tuesday at Savage Kingdom in Sumter County.

Vincent Lowe, 49, of Brooksville was killed Tuesday afternoon in a swift attack by a 550-pound cross-bred Siberian tiger at the 40-acre facility devoted to breeding the big cats, according to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Lowe suffered an injury to the neck, as well as severe injuries to the head, arm and ribs after making a heroic effort to save a co-worker when a tiger got loose.

Lowe was making repairs inside a nearby cage when the tiger broke free from restraints, law-enforcement officials said. Trying to hold the tiger back with a board, Lowe told a co-worker to leave the cage and lock it behind herself -- locking him in with the animal, an official said. He was unable to reach and use his pistol before the animal mauled him.

Lowe, owner of Florida Cougar, a company that works and tours with smaller cats, was hoping to become licensed in working with the larger animals at the Sumter County facility.

The facility's owner, Robert Baudy, 79, who is considered one of the nation's foremost experts on big-cat breeding and behavior, has worked with the animals for almost 50 years. He shot and killed the tiger after the attack.

It was the second such attack in less than five years at the facility on County Road 48 near Bushnell. In 1997, an employee was injured but survived when a Siberian tiger attacked him at feeding time.

None of it seems to shock other experts.

"These things can happen," said David McMillan, who runs Tiger's Eye Productions Inc. The Orlando facility, which has a dozen tigers, trains people to work with the animals.

"They are unpredictable and just waiting for an opportunity," he said.

Many trainers and others new to working with tigers develop a false sense of security around the carnivorous animals, McMillan said. "A lot of people who want to work with these animals are just not qualified. They think they're not dangerous because they expect them to be roaring and growling."

Wild animals in captivity are much more dangerous than wild animals in their natural habitat, McMillan said. Tigers that live in the wild fear people, but in captivity they lose their fear of humans.

Tigers usually bite the neck or throat of their prey. The neck bite, which usually severs the spinal cord, is typically used on small- or medium-sized prey. The throat bite, which causes suffocation, is used on larger animals.

"They are predators, and they are born to kill," McMillan said. His No. 1 rule: Never work alone with a tiger.

At Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, which has two Sumatran tigers, workers never enter the tigers' territory, said Jennifer Hackshaw, general curator.

"All of the work we do with the tigers is by using a remote shift door," she said.

That means workers can feed the tigers -- which can eat more than 100 pounds of meat in one sitting -- without taking any chances. Siberian tigers, the largest variety, are capable of dragging prey that would take more than a dozen people to move.

Unlike some big cats such as lions, adult tigers prefer to live alone, unless a mother is caring for her cubs. Males and females only get together to mate. Once the female has mated, she will have nothing to do with the male and will kill him if she sees him in her territory. That's because the male tigers will kill her cubs.

"With tigers, you should always expect the unexpected,'' McMillan said.